Arrow S02E19 – Review

By: Greg Berlanti, Geoff Johns, Andrew Kreisberg, Keto Shimizu (story)

The Story: Isabel may have had a point when she said Ollie would drag his company into ruin.

The Review: Not unlike the most recent episode of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Arrow had some fairly momentous developments last time around, but left almost no time for anyone to really process them. That task is left up to this episode, the entirety of which is less about taking action and more about responding to actions already taken. It’s a quieter episode than we’re used to, but perhaps a necessary one to allow the characters to inspect the damage that’s been dealt to each of them.

For Thea, this means a thorough examination of herself, to see how much of her identity has been eroded by the dual whammies of Roy leaving and discovering her true parentage. When you consider that around this time last year, Thea had nothing going for her character other than a cliché of a teen romance with Roy, it’s quite remarkable to see her running one of the strongest character arcs of the season. Her entire outburst to Ollie as to how devastating Slade’s revelation has been to her is genuine and effective throughout, starting from her correction that he isn’t her brother, but her half-brother.

“You know who else was my half-brother? Tommy. Tommy, who I tried to kiss. I tried to kiss my half-brother before my real father tried to kill him.” This is already a convincingly creepy read on the situation, but Thea is determined and successfully manages to sum up how impossible it really is for her to move on from this latest blow. “I thought I was going to be okay…I’m the daughter of not one, but two mass murderers. So I was never going to be okay. It’s not in my genes.”

Dinah has a comparatively easier time of her own little spoiler from Slade, mostly because she’s already gone through the whole life-shaking betrayal bit, and quite recently. It’d be redundant for her to lash out at her dad, sister, and ex-flame when she did that just five or six episodes ago. Besides, any outrage she may have felt upon learning Ollie’s biggest secret is diffused once she sees Quentin, once the show’s biggest anti-Ollie, anti-Arrow man, now willing to endure the humiliation and brutality of Iron Heights for the vigilante. Dinah proves her growth by coming to terms with her knowledge quietly, in so doing seeming like a worthy partner for Ollie at last. Her hug with Ollie is moving, not only for timing it for when he needs it most, but also for its spontaneity, and the simple, understated way she tells him it’s “[b]ecause you’re important to me.”

As you may surmise, this is mostly a drama-driven episode, though Team Arrow’s continued struggle with Deathstroke leads to some welcome interruptions of action. Now determined to bring the fight to him, they slowly make a few gains in the conflict, shutting down one of Queen Consolidated’s research labs and taking Isabel Rochev out of the picture. But Slade’s headstart is not so easily eliminated, and he proves that he’s still a few steps ahead by almost thoughtlessly invading the Arrow base, stealing their Skeleton Key, using Roy instead of himself to deliver the Mirakuru to his subjects, and making Isabel better than new with his own transfusion. Team Arrow’s loyalty notwithstanding, they’re going to need extra help dealing with this seemingly unvanquishable foe.

Enter Caitlin Snow and Cisco Ramone, known in other mediums as Killer Frost and Vibe. For two characters that get so much attention and name-dropping in this one episode, they wind up mainly as ciphers, debriefing Felicity on Deathstroke’s burglary of S.T.A.R. Labs as well as their mutual friend Barry’s condition.* Much as I love Arrow‘s extra lengths to incorporate comic book lore into its universe, the attempts here aren’t quite as organic or seamless as previous efforts.

Conclusion: Despite some moments of very real tension, the episode runs more on a quiet simmer than a full boil.

Grade: B

– Minhquan Nguyen

Some Musings: * Still out like a light, but on the plus side, he’s attended by Iris, whom Cisco describes as “his…something,” sadly fulfilling every worst expectation you have of physicists’ social skills. Felicity is nonplussed. “Barry’s in a coma and he’s already moved on.”

– I can never decide which Felicity line is my favorite in any given episode. Much as I love “For the record, I hated [Isabel] before we found out she was a supervillain,” I think the prize has to go to her panicked exchange with Ollie on their way to a heist. “As far as plans go, this is not a good one,” she says.

“Felicity,” Ollie replies slowly, “this was your plan.”

“Well, yeah, but I didn’t think you’d say yes.”

– That is some pretty bad doctoring in Ollie’s family photo. It looks like someone cut and paste the character’s heads into one picture. The lighting is all wrong, for one, as Moira’s visibly brighter than the family standing right next to her. I know the budget’s going to bigger things, but this is pretty awful.